New position focuses on domestic violence and sexual assault crimes

By TABITHA CLARK - Daily News Staff

Published: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 09:55 AM.

“We see our fair share of domestic violence-related issues and a lot of them dealing with military personnel,” Bettis said. “That’s what the majority of our community is, so obviously we are going to see that. We’re not picking on the military in general, but the military does have a unique ability to intervene in these situations.”

The area’s demographic played a role in getting the grant, Beth Purcell, media liaison for the Jacksonville Department of Public Safety, said.

“We have a very young military demographic here, and they are faced with back-to-back deployments away from their families,” she said. “They are under a lot of stress and pressure. It can create some volatile situations.”

Bettis said by partnering with NCIS, JPD can better facilitate communication with the command, have better communication between the agencies and better intelligence as to whether the subject has been counseled for these behaviors with his command

“What NCIS has done is provide us with a pipeline of information between the two agencies,” he said.

Purcell said that being able to approach the problem from both sides of the gate is an approach that will work.

“Our demographic supports that,” she said. “Having one detective that can focus on that area and have those relationships is going to breed success.”

A local law enforcement agency has been awarded a grant for a new detective position.

The grant, awarded by the Violence Against Women Act, will pay for a dedicated investigator to deal with domestic violence and sexual assault cases, according to information from Lt. Jason Bettis of the Jacksonville Police Department.

The detective, Karen Hasbargen, has been with the JPD for 13 years working patrol, narcotics, juvenile investigations, evidence and, most recently, property crimes. She said she is looking forward to stepping away from property crimes and into the new role.

“I think in police work everyone has a place to be, and some places are better than others depending on your experience, your skills and where you enjoy being,” Hasbargen said. “I enjoy working one-on-one with individuals. I do better in these situations than with other things I have done.”

Bettis said that the new position plays to Hasbargen’s skills and strengths.

“A lot of our investigators work a broad number of crimes, but what we’ve seen in Hasbargen is the ability to work these inherently touchy cases,” he said. “You have to have the skills because it is a very personal, private situation a lot of times, and you have to be able to communicate with people and get to what happened in a professional manner. Understanding the unique victim dynamic in these situations is what Hasbargen brings to the table.”

While this position will be dealing with all domestic violence and sexual assaults in Jacksonville, Hasbargen will work directly with NCIS on cases that involve military members to better serve those victims, according to Bettis.

“We see our fair share of domestic violence-related issues and a lot of them dealing with military personnel,” Bettis said. “That’s what the majority of our community is, so obviously we are going to see that. We’re not picking on the military in general, but the military does have a unique ability to intervene in these situations.”

The area’s demographic played a role in getting the grant, Beth Purcell, media liaison for the Jacksonville Department of Public Safety, said.

“We have a very young military demographic here, and they are faced with back-to-back deployments away from their families,” she said. “They are under a lot of stress and pressure. It can create some volatile situations.”

Bettis said by partnering with NCIS, JPD can better facilitate communication with the command, have better communication between the agencies and better intelligence as to whether the subject has been counseled for these behaviors with his command

“What NCIS has done is provide us with a pipeline of information between the two agencies,” he said.

Purcell said that being able to approach the problem from both sides of the gate is an approach that will work.

“Our demographic supports that,” she said. “Having one detective that can focus on that area and have those relationships is going to breed success.”

NCIS Supervisory Special Agent David L. Gardner said the agency is thrilled about this new position.

“We see the JPD as a progressive, professional department; and this grant is a perfect example of that,” he said. “It ties in specifically with something NCIS is doing at Camp Lejeune. We set up a sexual assault task force between ourselves, CID and the JPD, and we are targeting adult sexual assaults on military members.”

Gardner said he believes this is a win-win for both agencies, as well as the citizens they serve.

“We want to seek justice for these victims,” he said, “and this position is going to let us do that.”

Contact Daily News Reporter Tabitha Clark at 910-219-8454 or Tabitha.Clark@jdnews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @TabithaLClark or friend her on Facebook.